A few days after I bought that sexy bikini in Paris, I was putting it on in front of the mirror in our beachfront hotel in the south. I was doing my very best to maximize the ‘cover’, but I was far from satisfied. “What on earth were you and Suzi thinking with this tiny thing?” I demanded, my irritation building purely because of modesty. Looking in the mirror, I felt that my cleavage was far too pronounced. “Look here!” I called to John. “My breasts are only partially covered at the sides, I may as well be topless! And my butt is peeking out . . . How was I ever talked into this?”

John hadn’t responded, so I turned to him, feeling frustrated. “What do you think, darling? Seriously?”

He must have seen the worry in my face. All smiles, he came and kissed me lovingly then took me in his arms and said “Shh!” into my ear. “You are the most beautiful woman in the whole world to me. You look great! It’s perfect for you. I love you. Stop worrying and enjoy yourself.”

I started to relax a little, telling myself “What’s your problem? He’s right, you’re here to enjoy yourself. So what? Even if people here saw you naked they probably wouldn’t care!” I started to smile. His loving attention always does that for me.

He stepped away and picking up our beach bag he said “Come now, my dear, that’s enough tweaking. Let’s have that ‘loose woman’ from the restaurant in Paris back!” he laughed.

I knew he was right – I had to recover that sense of freedom. But I must have still looked worried, as he was suddenly serious and took out my thin beach wrap.

He gently put it around me under my arms and tucked it in to itself so it draped down to my knees. “There, only your shoulders and knees are exposed! On the beach, well, we’ll see. But I promise I won’t make you do anything you don’t want to do. I fully respect your choices.” What a man I married!

It was a short walk from a small beach-side lobby across a manicured lawn and past a large swimming pool. That was where our first shock awaited: there were only a few people around the pool, but all the women, about six of them, were topless! We thought that only happened at exclusive clubs.

Pretending not to notice we walked on down to the beach but there we soon realized that most – in fact, virtually all – the women on the beach were also topless. From teenagers to grannies! To remove my wrap now seemed such a non-event. But John remained all serious. “So what do you think?” he asked. It was still my choice.

I forced a laugh. “What a joke!” I said. “No-one’s going to care about me and my bikini!” But I was still uneasy. In my mind, I was sporting an incredibly sexy and eye-catching outfit in public. So I kept the wrap on while we spread out our towels. Once I had been seated on my towel for a few minutes I slowly took off the wrap, self-consciously glancing around. “Silly girl!” I thought. “If anyone notices anything at all it’s that you’re still wearing your top.” So there I sat for the first time in public in a bikini, super-aware of the fact because I couldn’t get rid of the feeling that it was the sexiest and most revealing outfit ever seen on that beach!

John casually stated the obvious: “You know your top is completely superfluous? If you took it off now I’d be the only one to notice.”

“Fat chance, mister,” I retorted, feeling irritated both at my own unease and at his daring to suggest that. And yet I noticed I was feeling that same flutter of excitement that I’d felt on the streets of Paris before my “liberation.” The desire to rebel was there again. But I pushed those thoughts aside and stuck to my position, saying “There’s no way I’m going topless, so you can put that thought out of your mind!” John looked a bit wistful, but said nothing more.

It was warm and sunny and I gradually relaxed. By the time we returned to our towels from a second swim I was perfectly comfortable in my ‘sexy’ outfit. And John was clearly appreciating it, which I noticed and enjoyed. “Excuse me, Sir,” I said in a mocking voice, “but feel free to stare if you like.”

“Don’t mind if I do, Ma’am!” he responded with a laugh and I giggled. I was having fun again. I asked him to rub suntan oil on my back. “Sure” he said, “Lie face down.” Without hesitation he undid the bikini ties around my back and neck.

“Uh-oh,” I thought, “what’s he up to?” But I said nothing. As I lay there enjoying his massage, that rebellious excitement was growing again. I knew that I really wanted to go topless, or at least a part of me did. What should I do? I decided to reason with myself, to talk myself out of it and back to sanity, but instead I found my reasoning going the other way. “Keeping your top on is just pointless,” I said to myself. “Really, girl, why shouldn’t you do it? Look how you behaved in Paris. How is this different?”

“Well, for starters, it’s completely public,” I thought.

“OK, but right now you’re being noticed in public because you have a top on, not because you don’t!” I countered. “You’ll blend in if you’re topless.”

I looked over my shoulder at John and he smiled lovingly. “Yes,” I thought accusingly to myself, “you’re being selfish. This man loves you like crazy, but you don’t want to go topless for him? No-one else here cares at all, but he does. He cares so, so much.”

That did it, I’d talked myself into it. I slowly stood up, leaving my top lying there on the towel. John’s jaw dropped. I smiled and turned to face him, hands-on-hips, chest proudly out for him, my long hair gently caressing my left breast in the light wind. “So what do you think?” I asked him.

“Er, of what?”

“My breasts, silly!” I said, giving my shoulders a little shake to make them wobble. He just grinned. I started giggling, which of course made my breasts wobble all the more. I could see he was loving it. I composed myself and struck a pose staring into the distance as if I was a model on a ramp.

Maybe I looked composed, but my heart was racing. I was exhilarated. I was free. I was wet between my legs! This topless deal was confusing. “What do I do now?” I thought desperately.

I decided on a swim. “‘Bye!” I said with a little wave. “I’m going to feel what this is like swimming,” and I strode off towards the ocean. John was at my side before I took three steps. I smiled at him and began to strut a bit, with my shoulders back and chest out, for his benefit. We walked straight into the calm sea, and swam together for a long time. Neither of us said anything at all about my topless state. It seemed we both wanted to pretend like this was normal, but to me I was in a new world. Like in Paris I was again in uncharted territory. It was an amazing feeling of freedom, swimming almost naked in warm water, no concern for being seen, with my lover in attendance. In fact it was erotic, and I admit there was some under-the-water groping!

After a while I was standing waist-deep in the shallows with my hands on my hips. Looking down proudly at my chest, I said to John, “I’m comfortable with this, you know?”

“With what? Swimming? Or with me groping you in public?”

“No, Darling. I’m being serious. I’m comfortable being exposed like this. It just seems so natural. I never thought I would be, but I really am comfortable with it. I suppose I wouldn’t be if there was anyone around that we knew, but among these strangers it just seems OK.”

John seemed unsure what to say. He was squatting down with just his head above the water, watching me.

“So?” I asked with a raised eyebrow and innocent smile. “Back to the room?”

“Oh yerrss!” he growled, grinning and starting to make for the shore. He was sitting on his towel before I even got out the water. “I just wanted to watch you,” he explained. “To watch you come topless out of the sea, your breasts dripping with water. Something I never expected to see!”

It was all I could do not to pounce on him right there and demand immediate gratification. Instead, I did my best impression of the beauty queen posing for the cameras, on display for him as he talked, until I could stay composed no longer and collapsed in giggles.

“Oh, come on!” he laughed as he got up, “Let’s go before I have my way with you right here!”

It turned out that it was John who now needed my wrap to protect his modesty as we made our way back! “Sorry, dear” he said, “but it’s entirely your fault. And it’s not getting soft anytime soon with your present state of affairs!”

I walked proudly topless all the way to the pool on the front lawn. There I dropped my towel and dived into the deep end, swimming back to slowly climb out right in front of John’s adoring gaze as he handed me my towel. I really was comfortable, and I was having the time of my life.

I put on my new white T-shirt for “modesty” as we walked through the lobby. It really didn’t hide much, but it didn’t matter to me anymore. What a remarkable sense of freedom I had, intoxicating and arousing at the same time.

John told me later that while he certainly found the “new me” titillating, he remembers it more as a moving, poignant, touching time, a time when his adored one was stripping herself of inhibitions just for him. “I saw it as a gift of love,” he said. And so it was. While I felt exhilaration and freedom, it was rooted in our love. It was a giving of myself fully to his eyes in public while no-one else cared.

Back in the room, John took me into the shower where we peeled our remaining clothes off each other under the warm water. You can imagine the rest of the afternoon; I’m won’t describe the details. Suffice to say that we didn’t leave the room again for almost two hours. Then we went to lie beside the pool to recover from our lovemaking. Topless, of course.

The rest of our time in France was a blur of enjoying the magnificent area and enjoying one another. I found many creative ways to express my new freedom. There remained in my mind one nagging question: How am I going to deal with this freedom back home? Well, that’s another story, but I assure you, I have continued to find creative ways to be sexy and free for the sake of my man. Maybe I’ll share some of that sometime.

Our final dinner at the end of this amazing anniversary holiday was in the afterglow of all our memorable experiences together. We were back in Paris for our final night, at the same restaurant where my liberation began. My attire once again illustrated my new freedom – though different this time, after some more shopping! – and we were again seated alongside one another at the same table. We even had the same flirty young waitress with her cleavage showing.

We were totally enveloped in our love, each aware that the other was nothing less than 100% theirs. If we were cats we would have been purring! I was joyously free in many new ways, and no one but John had even noticed!

Or so we thought! When she brought our after-dinner coffee our waitress leaned over my shoulder so she could speak softly into my ear. She seemed to be deliberately displaying her cleavage to John as she looked him directly in the eyes while whispering in my ear in her alluring French accent: “If Madame would like to put her head down again, I will stay right away until you sit back up.” With a smile and a wink she said, “Take your time!” and left us to decide what to do now!

________________________

PS
I’ve avoided too much physical description of my husband and I, so you can imagine yourselves in the lead roles! The story is in many parts true, though a little embellished to make it a better read. I really was a total prude in public (though not ever in private!) My body was not for public display. That is, not until this holiday which was our 25th anniversary. We have recently celebrated our 40th, and we’re still having great fun and erotic adventures together. And I still collapse in giggles when I’m trying to be sexy!

These three stories have been lovely, cute, and adoring. And, strangely enough, innocent. Innocent in the fact that there is nothing wrong with two married people discovering how to lovingly bringing pleasure to one another in a risqué kind of way. After reading this i literally said "Bravo, good for you". If I were to witness a married couple behaving in the fashion you describe I would be very proud and happy for them.
My wife has not read these stories. She is very reserved, especially in public. But the topic of going topless on a topless beach came up the other day, and she blew my socks off by saying that if it was just her and I amongst strangers that she would likely go topless! Hmmmm? A French vacation sounds like a good idea all of a sudden. 😉

Absolutely my favorite series on Marriage Heat. Thanks so much for sharing! We would really like for you to add one more chapter, and tell us about the creative ways you found to enjoy your new freedom, both there in France and especially after you arrived back home. I know you were a huge blessing to your husband, and I suspect there are many of us who could benefit greatly from your creative ideas.

Great story! Loved that you had the courage to go topless! Question for you and anyone else who has gone to a topless beach: Do you see a lot of asymmetrical breasts? My husband would love for me to lose my top on a beach like the one you visited, but I've always been self conscious of my unevenness. Just curious if all you see are "perfect boobs" or if there are a lot of women like me that cannot boast of mirror images?

Lovely story where you lost your inibitions for your husband. Could I ask what the Waitress meant when she said "If Maddame would like to put her head down again,I will stay right away until you sit back up".

Thanks to everyone for all the kind comments . . . here a few responses:
I certainly found it much easier to “let go” amongst strangers. This is partly because no-one is looking to judge me, and partly because I don’t feel ‘labelled’ by them as Christian, having to maintain a certain cultural standard. But this latter point does raise a few qualms for me about not being an object of lust for others, so I do want to be very careful not to cross that imaginary line, somehow. Yes, I know a man can lust after a woman no matter how she is dressed, but I don't want to make it any easier. Difficult then to dress for my husband's delight. However, a lot of our standards are cultural and local, so in another culture I can get away with more.
But it really is true: no-one looks at you on a topless beach, at least not anymore than on any other beach where you blend in with the local norms.

HeSaid-she said:
As I suggest above, your wife will find that going topless in an environment where it is the established norm is a complete non-event. No-one looks, no-one cares. I've now done it many times.

Been blessed:
Mmm – another chapter? A bit busy at the moment, but maybe, we’ll see.

Hot Tamale:
Asymmetrical breasts? Hey, really, don’t think twice. Probably no-one will even notice, and if they do they won’t care in the slightest. No, you do not see a lot of "perfect boobs" on these beaches – in fact quite the opposite! There are very few great looking girls, but there is absolutely every other shape and size imaginable. Look at the crowd in your local supermarket and imagine them all topless. Everyone goes topless in these cultures, not just the ones who look good. We once saw a brave women who had had a mastectomy, looking quite comfortable displaying her one breast. It seems no-one is self-conscious. All ages too. I saw some teenage girls playing a game, all topless; some of them had nothing at all to show, others were on the larger side, and one was even holding her boobs as she ran! The local culture has accepted male and female torsos on the same level.
Asymmetrical breasts are actually much more common than you may think. I have a friend with obvious asymmetry, and her doctor and husband have managed to draw her out of her self-consciousness. She now readily jokes about it to close friends.
In a similar vein, people who go to a topless beach in order to see the gorgeous bodies will be disappointed! Yes, there is the occasional sculpted beauty but the vast majority of people are so ordinary one wonders what the fuss is about.

Possibility:
“What the Waitress meant . . .” See the first part of this series (www.marriageheat.com/2018/02/19/anniversary-fun-part-1-black-dress/) to understand this reference. (Actually, she didn’t say this, I just put it in as a joke to reference the fact that we were convinced from her interactions with us on the second visit that she had in fact seen or noticed much more than we realized the first time round!)

Loved your story, Susan! Way to go!! Just wondering if you'd consider dropping your bottoms too, if it was a nude beach? I love skinny dipping and I love being naked outdoors, so there something appealing to the whole nude beach thing to me. I think it might be a lot of fun. Permission to go naked! Hubby would love it! 😍

I have to agree this series is one of the best ever on MH! What a well written and well executed exploration of freedom in Christ, the goodness of the bodies and sexuality He gave us, and a loving/open/communicative marriage relationship!

Great series! I loved seeing how you came out of your shell gradually. And good for you for going topless comfortably. And let me just add this to the discussion: My wife and I have been nudists for the last few years. It was definitely a process getting there, but once we did neither of us ever looked back! We have been to a nudist resort several times and we've both gone completely nude the whole time. And there were plenty of other people there. So I concur with what the OP commented: Once you get there and get nude, it's really a non issue. Everybody is nude so you blend in. Nobody comments, points or stares. And the most surprising thing of all is that nobody is walking around with an erection. This is often a common concern for the men. But even that is really a non issue. In fact the very first time my wife and I went to a resort to check it out, we pretty much kept to ourselves and other people respected that. They were friendly and introduced themselves (nudists are often more friendly) but then they let us be and let us check it out. No big deal all the way around. We even take our daughter with us and she fits right in too.

I'm sure my wife would go topless if we went to a topless beach. In fact, at this point I'm sure she would say, "Why can't we just go nude?" LOL! But definitely try it out one day. Summer is coming up. That will be a good time to try it out. Put that on your summer bucket list and just go for it. Don't hesitate and just go. You'll see what I mean. 🙂

[Edited for length. Please consider submitting a story with more about your experiences.]

I was thinking the same thing as Chloe… my wife has started spending time naked with me at a nude beach… just a few times so far, as we don't get many opportunities… I have to say it's been a dream come true… just incredible.

Actually, we haven’t done the public full nudity thing. Not to criticize others, but we felt – both of us – that it's a bit of an ‘artificial’ culture that we're not really comfortable with, as opposed to the south of France where it seems the general culture has accepted as completely normal that male and female are topless together. Full nudity is still on separate beaches with warning signs. Again, this is for us – it’s a personal choice, not criticizing. So we’ve never actually tried it merely because we haven’t felt like seeking it out. However, we have an "outlet" . . . we have for the past 12 years had access to an isolated and totally private large property beside a beautiful lake where we spend many weekends. On a warm weekend we will be naked much of the time, indoors and outdoors and in the lake. So that’s become our nudist outlet! The privacy . . . well, until my sister-in-law arrived unannounced one day last summer and we didn’t hear her until it was “too late”! It’s now a family joke that we’re nudists!

I would love to have a private place where my wife and I could be nude together outside to sunbathe, swim, hot tub or the like. I am going to do a project this summer to finish out a patio space for us to put a hot tub and a privacy screen from a close neighbor, and once completed we will have a spot where we can hot tub and sunbathe nude. We have gone to a nude beach and it is nice to be able to relax and not worry about being ticketed for indecent exposure, but candidly, the other patrons of the beach were heavily solo males, likely gay, with very few other couples. Even with that we walked a distance to place ourselves pretty much at least 75 yards from the closest others on the beach and were up in the dune line. After about an hour, my wife got a little more bold, but we never fully relaxed. Clearly, it was wonderful to be naked, together and free. The same experience would have been there if the beach had been desolate but for us. Sometimes I wonder what it would be like to share a carefree, nude experience with some of our couple friends, but I think that it might be way too much for me to have them see my hot wife nude, and far more likely, too much for her to expose herself that way to someone she knows but is not married to. A topless experience is likely to be much different, and I suspect that even my wife might go topless in front of friends if it was in the "culture" and everyone else was the same way. There is no doubt that it is a primal, free feeling.

Thanks Susan! I think I'm like your friend– an obvious difference. My husband adores them, though, and doesn't think the asymmetry is a big deal at all!! He would never want me to have plastic surgery to make them perfectly symmetrical. He loves them as they are (and loves for me to go braless or topless at home– huge turn on for him). Comforting to know I'm not alone in the asymmetry department. My husband would LOVE LOVE for me to go topless on a tropical beach!!! My unevenness would be the only thing to prevent
me. But if it's common to see and no one would care…😉